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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;mrbreeze, post: 11957620, member: 86726&quot;]Part 1</p><p><br /></p><p>So, I have been dabbling in Roman provincials for a while.&nbsp; Every now and then, I would grab something I liked, but wasn&#039;t too serious about it.&nbsp; I did not like the fact that I could not include them in my &quot;true&quot; Roman collection (completely my OCD as they would fit just fine), so I just had a few examples here and there...that could only fit into a set, obviously (i.e. Ceasarean drachms with Mt Argaeus reverse).&nbsp; My need to collect with structure has long been a part of my life, so I have just accepted that and stopped trying to change it.&nbsp; So, as I have accumulated coins for my main Roman collection, I have wondered how the occasional provincials would be dealt with.&nbsp; Well, unfortunately for me, some of the people I want represented in the main set will only be provincials.&nbsp; The cost and availability of Zenobia and Tranquillina and others mean that they will not be Roman coins with Latin legends. I&#039;ll have to live with that.&nbsp; But, still there is the conundrum of a few other provincials here and there.&nbsp; Well, I came up with a solution, and you probably guessed it.&nbsp; I have to do a concurrent provincial set with my main set.&nbsp; Really?&nbsp; Yes.</p><p><br /></p><p>Part 2</p><p><br /></p><p>The other thing that I like to do is <b>buy the coin before the book</b>.&nbsp; Numismatic blasphemy, I know.&nbsp; I enjoy researching and searching in areas I don&#039;t know.&nbsp; Having the coin gives me direction and a framework for the adventure, while also ensuring that I stay within some boundary and not learn about every coin ever made in Nicopolis ad Istrum.&nbsp; What I&#039;ve learned so far is that Roman provincial coins are a vast world of varieties, sizes, denominations, compositions, etc.&nbsp; I can&#039;t just get the legend, look it up in Sear and be happy with my meager accomplishment.&nbsp; I can&#039;t even figure out how to type greek letters in a search, so I am already behind the eight ball.&nbsp; This is a different world.&nbsp; So, I have been studying the types that I have and learning about others that I come across along the way.</p><p><br /></p><p>Part 3</p><p><br /></p><p>The impetus for this post came this weekend.&nbsp; I glanced through many provincials and picked up a few for the brand new set.&nbsp; Yay!&nbsp; But, there was also the draw of a bowl of unidentified provincial cast offs.&nbsp; As they were not cheap, I couldn&#039;t just grab a bunch and start the fun.&nbsp; I looked though the many (almost overwhelming) different coins and decided on two examples.&nbsp; Both purchases came down to one simple fact.&nbsp; Can I possibly identify them?&nbsp; I needed to feel comfortable that I could see something on the coins that was a portrait or legend or size that could be quantified and decoded.&nbsp; So, I selected the two pieces below.&nbsp; Be more specific, this isn&#039;t helpful, you may be saying.&nbsp; Here goes.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1527004[/ATTACH]</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1527005[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Coin 1 (the left obverse and left reverse)</p><p><br /></p><p>When I saw the portrait, <b>I knew</b> that this was Matidia.&nbsp; The Roman coin busts are almost an exact match.&nbsp; There are enough letters to make a definitive ID once I do a minimum amount of searching.&nbsp; She has so few coins that this will be a simple search and almost one and done.&nbsp; Hurray for me for filling one of the rarer spots in my new set (and maybe graduate to my regular set as they are rare and expensive).&nbsp; (cue Lee Corso)&nbsp; &quot;Not so fast, my friend.&quot;&nbsp; Two days into &quot;Matidia&quot; stalking on the interweb, and I had nothing.&nbsp; &quot;Matidia provincial.&quot;&nbsp; &quot;Matidia spear and shield reverse.&quot;&nbsp; &quot;Matidia C C.&quot;&nbsp; &quot;Matidia Athena reverse.&quot;&nbsp; &quot;Matidia AE 24.&quot;&nbsp; At this point, I realize that I have a super rare Matidia and this is the only example.&nbsp; Exciting.&nbsp; I can&#039;t let that be enough, though.&nbsp; I have to get an ID.&nbsp; I keep pouring through auction descriptions I think may help.&nbsp; Then, suddenly, I get the info I need.&nbsp; One particular auction description has a coin with nothing but a faint portrait that is the same as mine.&nbsp; Matidia has been found.&nbsp; Except...the description says this particular coin cannot be truly identified because it is most likely Matidia, but there is a small chance it could be Marciana and even smaller chance it could be Sabina.&nbsp; Wait.&nbsp; What? I start looking at the coin and the Marciana provincials.&nbsp; OK, maybe this could be the problem, but I doubt it, it&#039;s Matidia.&nbsp; The coin has an &quot;NA&quot; on the left of the bust, hmmm, so it is probably Marciana.&nbsp; Start searching.&nbsp; Wait, Sabina ends with &quot;NA&quot; as well.&nbsp; I believe this would be an example of Anchoring Bias...part 2.&nbsp; Can&#039;t let that happen again.&nbsp; Let&#039;s give Sabina a whirl.&nbsp; I don&#039;t feel like pouring through more internet stuff, let&#039;s just see if Sabina has any similarly described provincials in the Greek Imperial Coins (Sear) book...</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1527026[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Wow.&nbsp; An open mind and an open book would have saved me several hours.&nbsp; But, the silver lining is the amount of info I just added to my provincial brain file.&nbsp; The icing on the cake is that I came up with the proper ID for the coin.&nbsp; And finally, the last cliche, the cherry on top is that I learned a good lesson in reading all of the clues before jumping in the provincial black hole.</p><p><br /></p><p>Coin 2</p><p><br /></p><p>I picked this coin because I thought that the portrait was strong and narrowed the field to the bearded gentlemen.&nbsp; In addition, I thought there were enough letters and a somewhat common reverse type to get in the ballpark.&nbsp; Unfortunately, while I was thinking Ant Pi-ish, it could be a non Roman ruler, and that would be trouble.</p><p><br /></p><p>Not much excitement here as I have only figured out that I believe Dionysis is on the reverse holding Thyrsos and Kantharos.</p><p><br /></p><p>There is still work to be done and some learning to be had.</p><p><br /></p><p>P.S.&nbsp; I&#039;m not above help.&nbsp; If you can identify the second coin, or add some context/clues, I won&#039;t feel cheated.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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